St. Luke's Episcopal Church

Offering a unique and fulfilling experience of worship through an Anglo-Catholic mass.

31 Oct Newsletter

BOO! - HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME ENDS 3 Nov., 2024. Remember to set that clock back before you go to bed Saturday night!

SERVICE - Fr Grady will conduct the All Souls service on Nov 3. Unfortunately, no further information about any of the services, feast days or homilies / sermons was available at time of publication. For the rest of the year, we will have other supply priests, including Fr. Steven Gerth from Naples.

Remember our Wednesday morning Healing service conducted by Canon Bill Lester @ 10:00 am in the chapel. (James 5:16)

FINANCE – The good news is that we paid the quarterly insurance bill and we still have our heads above water. The bad news is that, due to recent changes in code requirements (massive hurricane-proof foundations), the cost of the sign, to be placed in front of our church, has increased by $3,000.00. Please help us to meet this expense by giving a one-time gift designated to “Church Sign”. Thank you for your faithful support as we continue to rebuild our parish.

BUILDING – Work has been slowed down by Helene and Milton and we still have the skylights, the new lightning rods, gutters and downspouts, the fence, some outside electrical (lights) work, the main church doors (this is the “biggie” still remaining) and the carpet to go. BUT IT IS STILL COMING ALONG!

FOOD BANK – Thanks to all who have contributed. We will take the next load of food to All Souls on Tuesday, 5 Nov., so if you still want to bring in canned vegetables this Sunday, they will be most welcome.

O.K., what’s next? Well, Thanksgiving is Nov 28 and some more festive foods are in order. Please consider canned cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes or yams, pumpkin, boxes or bags of stuffing, rice mixes, smaller bags of rice, sugar or flour.

OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD - Daughters of the King have partnered again with Samaritan Purse and have one of their projects: Operation Christmas Child. You can use one of the plastic boxes that were distributed in the Parish Hall on the 20th or go to Hobby Lobby and purchase one for $3.99 OR use a regular cardboard shoe box (some people like to decorate theirs). Many items can be found at a Dollar Store or on Amazon. Ideas to fill: toys and books, toothbrushes, combs, brushes, undergarments, crafts, doll, stuffed animals, balls, eating utensils, sunglasses, flip flops, flashlight with batteries, school supplies (pencils, notepad crayons). DO NOT INCLUDE: food, candy, gum, medications, seeds, used items, liquids, breakable items.

You must label boy or girl and ages 2-4, 5-9 or 10-14. You must also include $10 for mailing. If you include a check, it will be a while before it is cashed, or you can include cash for Samaritian Purse and mark that on the envelope, putting that on top of your filled box. Some folks prefer to print their labels and track their package where it goes to: https://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/label-options/

BOXES DUE NO LATER THAN NOV 17th to be taken to distribution site. Please return box to Suzanne Jager, or any other Daughter of the King member.

COFFEE HOUR – We need volunteers to provide “goodies” for the coffee hour, Please sign up on the sheet in Haynes-Burgess Hall

MUSIC - Celebration of All Saints' Day If the Feast of All Saints' (November 1) does not fall on a Sunday, it is transferred to the following Sunday. Therefore we celebrate All Saints' this coming Sunday, November 3, 2024. Our Service of Holy Eucharist will be enhanced with the presence of Gary Marvel, Trumpet, and we will offer two special works for Organ and Trumpet: Mouret's Rondeau from Sinfonies de Fanfares and Stanley's English, 1712 – 1786) famous Trumpet Voluntary in D Major. Our hymns reflect the scriptures of the day which talk about a new heaven and earth; all things are made new; and Lazarus is raised from the dead. Hymn 287 For All the Saints opens our service (yes - we will sing all eight verses!) and our Gradual Hymn (286) speaks to us of those saints who have gone before us. The ever-popular English hymn I Sing a Song of the Saints of God (293) follows communion and our final hymn Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones (618) concludes the service. St. Luke's Choir will offer a movement from the Mozart (1756 – 1791, Austrian) Requiem during the offertory. Sung in Latin, the text speaks to us in a most appropriate manner: "Sacrifices and prayers of praise, Lord, we offer to you. Receive them on behalf of those souls we commemorate today. And let them, Lord, pass from death to life, which was promised to Abraham and his descendants." During Communion, the choir will sing William Byrd's (1540 – 1623, English) beautiful motet Ave verum corpus. Translations will be printed in the bulletin. Be sure to join us for this feast day and bring your friends, neighbors and relatives!

After a few years of neglect, significant maintenance work has been done to bring our organ back to its full working order at a cost of about $6,500. Several stops on the organ are once again playable and making music. Broken electric contacts have been restored and/or replaced. We are blessed to have such a fine organ and an exceptional organist/choirmaster to lead us in worship.. Let's all do our part to help pay for this work, for the glory of God. Make your check payable to St. Luke's/Friends of the Choir.

ST. LUKE’S CHOIR - If you are interested in singing with St. Luke’s Choir, please join us. Weekly rehearsals are held every Thursday at 7:00 pm in the Choir Room followed by a time of fellowship in the Library. The Choir reconvenes each Sunday at 9:00 am for a warm-up in preparation for the 10 am Service. ALL ARE WELCOME TO JOIN WITHOUT AUDITION! Come help us make a joyful noise unto our Lord! If you are interested, please contact our Director of Music Ministry, Dr. Ronald Doiron.

VISITOR PLAN – Remember, we are implementing the new VISITORS PLAN to try to grow our church and make sure it survives. We are ALL part of the plan and we are counting on YOU to help make sure that all our visitors are warmly welcomed and supplied with the yellow “Connect Cards” that are now both in the pews and the folders. In case you have misplaced your copy of the plan it is attached to this newsletter below.

CALENDAR - Nov 3 – Mass with Stanley’s Trumpet Voluntary!

Nov 4 – Serendipity Bible Study- (239) 560-4535, 7 PM

Dec 15 – Lessons & Carols

If you want more, less or different information, tell your vestry.

Contact Us

2635 Cleveland Ave, Fort Myers, Fl
Phone: (239)-334-2479
Office Email

Worship Schedule

Sundays: 10 AM
High Mass

Wednesdays: 10 AM
Unction Mass in Chapel

St. Luke's - 2024